5 Times Matt Talks to Peter
by RebelzHeart
Summary: And one time that he meets Spider-man.
1. Chapter 1

It's not Matt, exactly, that first meets him. It's Daredevil.

And it's not Spidey that he meets, it's a gangly kid with a camera in hand.

He's out fighting some baddies and then there's another _presence_ , and he's about to go and attack it when he hears the click of a camera and the squeak of _"Sweet baby cheesecakes, please don't see me"_.

"Delete the photos." Matt growls, and the kid (is it a kid? The heartbeat's too fast to tell) shakes his head.

"I need these photos." He answers defiantly, and man, Matt would be almost impressed because this kid is obviously terrified out of his wits.

"Look, kid," He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose and groaning. "Whoever threatened you or whatever, I can help you to find a safe haven from them or something, or you can give me the information if they're really that dangerous and..."

The kid bursts out laughing, and Matt is left stumbling in confusion. "N-no, I'm not being threatened," The kid manages to say between his gales of laughter. "There's nobody dangerous who sent me, although it's kind of funny that you..." He laughs a bit more, and Matt's eye twitches.

"Then if nobody's threatening you, you need to delete the photos." He growls, going for his intimidating I-could-kill-you-in-an-instant voice. "Daredevil's not here to just end up on Instagram or whatever."

"I can't." The kid says again, firm and utterly terrified but still absolutely certain that he's not going to delete the photos. "It's my _job_."

 _Oh._

Matt gets it now.

"You're a photographer?" He sighs, leaning back and rubbing a hand over his face. "Kid, I don't have time to deal with this, just delete the photos."

"I can't deal with this, either." The kid snaps back, frustrated. "If I don't get a photo of you, it's coming out of my paycheck, and I can't _deal_ with that."

Curse his bleeding heart. "Fine." Matt grounds out unhappily as he steps back and flips away from the kid to another roof. "But this is a _one time thing_."

"Understood, Mr. Daredevil!" The kid has the nerve to _salute_ him, and as Matt flips away, he distinctly hears the clicking of more photos being taken.

 _One time thing_ , he repeats to himself, but there's crime in his city and he can't deal with the kid with the camera and waste anymore time.

Somehow he knows that it won't just be a one time thing.

* * *

"Hey, Matt, you're in the paper." Foggy notes, pointing at what's probably a picture of Daredevil.

"Yeah," Matt sighed as he readjusted his tie. "Some kid was taking pictures of me."

Foggy whistled, a slight laugh escaping him as he asked, "So they sent a kid, figuring that you'd be less likely to hurt him?"

Matt considers this for a moment, before realizing, "You know, that actually could be it."

"It's alright," Foggy reassured Matt, patting him on the shoulder before continuing, "This kid is like, _the_ photographer for vigilantes and heroes. You name a super, he's got photos. Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-man... not just that, really _good_ photos. Mid action stuff, like, it's a wonder that this kid hasn't been killed taken a photo yet type of mid action."

Matt grunted as he sat down and lay his cane down next to him. "He's young and naive. It could get him killed one day."

"Oh, I know that voice," Foggy raised his eyebrows to squint at Matt. "Are you going to have a talk with him?"

"...Nooo..."

Foggy stayed silent.

"...Maybe. He promised it would be a one time thing, though, that he would take no more photos of me."

(Somehow, he doubts that this is true.)

"Okay, okay," Foggy laughed and tossed a folder towards Matt. "Anyways, Karen's been bugging me about getting an intern..."


	2. Intern

**Reply to Crimson47:** Thanks! (Also, can you please enable your PM feature?)

* * *

The intern is a tall, gangly teen with a heartbeat that's a bit too fast and a mouth that won't stop moving.

He also happens to be the photographer from a few nights ago, not that Matt can reveal he knows this without risking the compromise of his identity.

"Sweet baby cheescakes, this is so _cool_." Peter (as Karen has reminded him and Foggy with apparently a 'stare of steel' and a voice of 'disobey and die' multiple times) gaped at the office and spun around. "It's so nice and professional but cozy and good and _wow_ , is that a plate with your name now that's awesome can you get those commissioned how much do they cost wait you're lawyers that's insane what kind of stuff do you do well lawyerish stuff I know but like what's lawyerish stuff, like do you also have to deal with..."

"One question at a time, or else we won't remember all of them." Matt cuts in with a smooth smile.

Peter turns to him with what Foggy describes as 'a smile that makes the sun jealous'. "Sorry," He replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck before asking, "Can I shake your hand, Mr boss sir?"

And Matt can't help but laugh at that, so he sticks out his hand and Peter, he's told, beams even wider as he takes Matt's hand and shakes it in an utter mockery of anything professional, but makes him laugh all the same, and Matt understands that it's not anything against him, if anything, it's something to his credit.

"You're blind," Peter says, and Matt is ready to retort with something dry about stating the obvious when he continues, "But you're a lawyer, which requires a crazy amount of memorization, which means that either you have an insane memory, or you're just a crazy hard worker, right?"

And well, that wasn't exactly what Matt was expecting but... "Not particularly. Reading braille is as easy to me as reading words must be to you, so there's not much difference between me and someone who can't see."

"That's not true," Peter hums, but he doesn't press Matt, something that he's grateful for. "Hey, Foggy, do you have to use a lot of shampoo on your hair? Is it more comfortable that way, or do you just do it for your ravishing looks?"

"Both," Foggy laughs, and adds, "You know, kid, you sure have a way of almost insulting people."

"Oh, sorry, I don't mean it to be," Peter answered apologetically, "It's just that you said to ask anything, so..."

"I'm pretty sure they meant about the job." Karen laughed, shutting the door behind her with a light _click_. "But I suppose any question would technically work..."

"Any question means any question!" Peter objected, holding up a finger. "If you had wanted professional questions, you should have either explicitly said so or have gotten someone more mature than me."

Foggy was smiling, Matt knew he was. "So you're admitting that you're immature?"

Peter leveled Foggy with an unimpressed stare. "Me and everyone's grandma _knows_ that I'm the least mature person on the universe."

They all had a light laugh at that, and then Karen clapped her hands together. "So, intern." She offered Peter a completely shark-like grin, and held out a hand as she said in the most snobbish voice she could muster, "Get me some coffee."


	3. Daredevil

"Whoa, so you're, like, _the_ Devil of Hell's Kitchen?" Peter gaped at Matt, and he closed his eyes with a sigh as Peter fell silent again, waiting for the, _but wait..._ part of it that never came.

Foggy's _are you really blind_ still rang in his mind, loud and clear.

Peter leaned back and tucked his hands behind his head as he whistled, completely impressed. "Dude, that is _so_ cool. This means that your other senses compensate, right? But they have to be a certain level of enhanced. You could be a mutant, but you were blinded in an accident, right? Which means that it's more probable that the chemicals did it. Man, that's _awesome_. If we could find a way to tone it down but make it still helpful to disabled people..."

" _Peter_ ," Foggy cut in, sighing. "Are you seriously taking this okay?"

Peter blinked owlishly at Foggy for a moment before gasping, "Oh, you're totally right!" He fumbled around in his bag and Matt could hear his heart pounding before Peter pulled out a piece of paper and asked, "Can I have your autograph? Wait, no, you're blind." He frowned. "Can you, like, write out braille on a piece of paper or do you need a special printer or something, or like..."

 _"Peter_." Matt scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed, not really having expected Peter to accept it and act so excited about it. "You know that this is a serious secret that you have to keep, right?"

Peter laughed lightly, leaning back. "Of course!" He answered, sounding almost insulted. "Secret identities are super important. I get it if you want to keep your night activities quiet."

"Peter, now that you know what's up with Matt, you might become associated with Daredevil, and..."

"Oh, right." Peter's smile slipped a little, and he sighed, scratching his nose as he muttered, "Man, you meet one of your idols and then instantly _boom_ , you could get killed."

 _He understands the severity of the situation intellectually,_ Matt thought to himself, closing his eyes. _But not quite emotionally, it seems. He's not at all afraid._

 _"_ We understand if you want to avoid us for a bit, or clear your head." Matt said solemnly, taking a moment to focus on Foggy's soft breathing as he tightened his grip on Matt's hand. "This is a big deal and all, so..."

" _Matt_." Peter wrinkled his nose as he mimicked Matt and Foggy's tones from earlier. "We've hashed it all out. You're secretly a supercool vigilante, I know, and so we're cool. Case closed."

And really, what could he say to that?

Matt smiled wryly, "Why do you think that I'm so cool?"

Peter threw his hands up in the air. " _Dude,_ I know so many people that you've saved and it's _insane,_ like literally you're a superhero and you're wondering why I think you're cool? Why would I _not_ think you're cool is the better question!" He started chattering about Daredevil's activities and trying to show Matt how cool he was, leaving the two adults to listen and laugh.

 _Was it really so simple to Peter?_ Matt wondered. Just... knowing that Matt was Daredevil, and not caring?

Well, who was he to look a gift horse in the mouth?

He closed his eyes, leaned back, and listened as Peter gushed his praises.

 _Maybe,_ he mused as Peter chattered on, light and happy and sweet, _maybe I'm not so much of a Devil after all._


	4. Apartment

Peter somehow manages to worm his way even further into Matt's life, and he's not really sure how he should feel about this, but it gives him a nice and cozy feeling that he doesn't quite want to let go of yet (selfishly, maybe, but Foggy keeps telling him to be a little selfish so he may as well give it a shot) so he holds onto that warmth and the way that just listening to Peter's heartbeat, light as a feather and a bit too fast, can make him smile.

(It's a nice sentiment, but since Matt has what Peter has gushed about and dubbed "super-awesome-hearing-powers", it actually applies in this case.)

And so they end up here, at around 3AM with Peter and Foggy sitting on Matt's coffee table, exhausted and tired (Foggy's trying and failing to hide a yawn) while Claire stitches him up.

"I swear," She mutters as she ties up one particularly large stab wound. "I get called for a bullet wound one more time and I'll be the one to put it in you."

Matt just laughs at that, amused but nervous all the same (because Claire's utterly perfect, and in her perfection there is sarcasm and ironic humor and someone that is honestly willing to shoot someone that she used to kiss... namely, Matt... without any qualms).

"Don't worry, Ms. Temple." Peter pipes up, light and deceptively sweet. (Because he's seen Matt hurt before and he's been utterly terrifying, snarling a sharp, " _Don't you dare think that your life is forfeit or else it will be_ " even as he hugged Matt and tried very hard not to cry.) "We'll make sure that he doesn't get into too much trouble."

Claire shot Peter a tired look, then turned to the ceiling as though to ask, _do you see what I'm dealing with? Do you see?_ and then moaned, "Why is it that you seem like you're the sanest one of us and yet are only fifteen?"

"Because you've barely met me." Peter replied in a voice that was a bit too chirpy for 3AM (but honest and earnest, all the same, because the freaking kid's internal clock apparently didn't work properly), "So you're still under the illusion that I'm mentally stable."

"It's a testimony to my life that I believe you." Claire sighed, blowing a stray piece of hair from her eyes. "Next thing I know, you'll secretly work for the government or something."

Peter wiggled his eyebrows. "It's all a conspiracy." He agreed, before bursting into laughter.

Foggy groaned. "I haven't drank enough coffee yet." He mumbled into his cup of coffee, and Matt privately agreed with him.

"Well," Claire was giving Matt a Look, he just knew it. "Luckily for you, you're alive. Barely, though. So I'd recommend complete rest until you're completely healed," (Foggy snorted in his coffee, instantly turning away so that he wouldn't be laughing straight in their faces.) "But we all know that's never happening."

"I guess I'll just die." Matt agreed solemnly.

Peter's heart fluttered slightly, and Matt only had time to think _no, wait, did someone close to him die,_ before he snickered, "Please, we'd just resurrect you and then haunt your ghost."

Matt raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure that ghosts haunt people and not the other way around."

"People are to ghosts what ghosts are to people." Peter probably had the straightest face ever while he was speaking, but he had barely managed to get out the words before he burst into laughter. "That made no sense."

"Absolutely none." Foggy agreed, albeit a bit fondly.

"You're all idiots." Claire sighed, but Matt was pretty sure that she was also fond, just better at hiding it.

"You know you love us." Matt replied cheerfully, patting her comfortingly on the shoulder.

Judging from the glare that was probably being directed his way, it was true.

"Alright!" Peter stood up, clapping his hands cheerfully as he asked, "Pancakes, anyone?"

Foggy groaned. "Peter. _Peter._ It's three in the morning."

"Are you saying that you don't like pancakes, Mr. Nelson?" Peter asked, sounding incredibly insulted.

"I like sleep even more." Foggy replied grumpily, and Claire threw a pillow at his head.

"You've drank a pot of coffee, the lack of sleep is your own fault." She informed him solemnly.

Foggy groaned a bit more.

Matt laughed. "What kind of pancakes?"


	5. Shirts

Peter, Matt notices, has a bad habit of stealing clothes.

And by that, he means that this is the fourth time that he's caught his smell on Peter's skin and found one of his sweaters conveniently missing that morning.

The worst part isn't even that his shirts keep going missing. He honestly doesn't even care about that. Peter always washes them and they end up neatly folded on his coffee table anyways, so it's fine.

The problem is that Karen thinks that it's the most adorable thing ever and won't stop saying that.

"Hey, Peter," she greeted Peter with a light smile and a wave. "You look all spiffy in that sweater today. New one?"

Peter flushed and raised the collar to his nose self consciously. "Yeah. I went over to Matt's place yesterday to help sort out some files."

She ruffled his hair and took a picture while Peter wasn't looking.

"Again, Peter?" It said a lot about how common this was that Foggy's tease felt so much a normal part of routine, now. "Matt's going to run out of clothes at this point."

"I always return them." Peter promised, and Matt groaned.

"Any chance that you'll be returning my clothes soon?" He asked dryly as Peter bounced over.

"I returned the ones that I was wearing yesterday?" Peter replied uncertainly.

Matt rubbed the bridge of his nose between two fingers. "Peter, look, I understand that you always return my clothes, but I'm a bit worried about your kleptomaniac tendencies and I just..."

" _Kleptomaniac tendencies_?" Foggy echoed, stifling laughter by jamming his fist against his mouth. " _Really,_ Matt?"

Matt gave Foggy the stink eye, though it wasn't quite as effective since he couldn't make eye contact perfectly. "He's shamelessly taking my clothes!" He protested, waving an arm in the air. "I found my favorite purple shirt missing the other day!"

Karen was raising an eyebrow, he just knew it. "Matt. You're _blind_. How can you tell if your favorite purple shirt is missing?"

"Forget knowing." Foggy snorted. "I've been through your wardrobe, you don't own anything purple."

Matt sulked. "I might."

"You've never been clothing shopping without me." Foggy replied.

Peter groaned and pulled the shirt off. "It's okay, guys." He sighed, and neatly folded it up before pressing it against Matt's arm, heart thumping a little bit faster than before (was he seriously _panicking_?). "It's not big deal. Matt just has nice clothes, is all."

"As opposed to me?" Foggy squawked indignantly. "I have nice clothes, too!"

"Yes, you do." Peter agreed mildly, patting Foggy's head. "I just haven't had an opportunity to steal them yet."

"You haven't put any effort." Foggy sounded almost... indignant.

Peter laughed, though it sounded a bit strained as he rubbed his fingers over his own shirt. "I'll be sure to break into your apartment next time." He promised cheerfully, and Foggy laughed, too.

Peter turned to Matt, staring at him without speaking, and Matt could feel Peter's eyes carving their way through his features.

"I'll leave your clothes alone, though." Peter promised him, and Matt wondered why he sounded so broken.

* * *

So, obviously, Matt interrogates Peter later.

Because he has no social skills and this is his brand of caring.

Peter's face heats up and he pointedly looks everywhere _but_ at Matt, ducking his head and looking away and biting his lip and Matt is just really confused until Peter mumbles quietly, "It reminds me of you."

Well.

This is.

Well.

Matt coughs awkwardly and wishes that he had a silver tongue. "In case you haven't noticed, Peter, I'm still here." Oops, that came out a bit too blunt and Matt thinks _and I'm supposed to make a living out of talking..._

"I know." Peter agrees quietly, but there's still that defiant jut to his chin that shows it makes no difference. "I just..." He swipes a hand over his face and groans. "Wait, you can hear my heartbeat, right?"

Matt coughs awkwardly. "Yes, well..."

"This is so embarrassing." Peter groans, and Matt honestly can't help but agree.

"So I can tell when you're lying." Matt sighs and rubs his forehead. "And therefore it may be in your best interest to be honest with me."

Peter groans. "It smells like you." He mutters.

Matt blinks. "It... smells like me. Peter, I'm _not dead._ "

"But you _could_ be!" Peter explodes, stands up, voice like thunder and cracking like lightening and Matt thinks _what did I do wrong no wait stop._ "You could be _dead_ in some alley somewhere every time you go out! You could tick off the wrong person and the next thing I know I'm standing at your funeral, trying to act like I know _nothing_ and pretending that you aren't a hero!"

Mat lurches back, struck, and he mumbles a soft, "Sorry, Peter..."

"Don't you _sorry Peter_ me!" Peter snaps, beginning to pace as his hands fly through the air. "You're a freaking hero and you're _apologizing_? No! You're amazing and brilliant and fantastic and I will fight anyone who argues, including you! No, the problem is that I'm a _magnet_ for ruining people's lives as soon as I get close to them, and I'm close to _you_ , and you're this hero who's got no self preservation and I..."

His voice cracks and Matt thinks _no don't cry_.

Peter doesn't cry. "I like you a lot, Matt, so I can't have you die, too."

Matt keeps his head trained on the floor, on the warmth of his hands and the brush of wood against his knees. "I won't." He swears.

"That's what they all say." Peter replies bitterly.

(The next day, Peter arrives to the internship with Matt's sweater. Karen takes picture and Foggy teases Matt. It's worth it, though, Matt thinks.)

* * *

 **A/N:** Whooo, long chapter!


	6. Spider-man

He doesn't really know what to expect when he hears the scream and Peter's heartbeat.

Okay, fine.

Actually, he knows exactly what to except. Peter, being robbed or raped or something and he'll swoop down and come close to murdering whoever dared to mess with his intern and Peter will just smile sheepishly at him or he'll gush over how he's totally putting this on Instagram or something.

What he doesn't expect is Peter's high pitched voice sighing, "Really, man?" and the steady sound of _thwip_ as Peter approaches the girl and says softly, "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. I know that this guy messed up your clothes, so I'm going to take his shirt and give it to you, is that okay? Yeah, okay. So we're going to go into a nearby clothing store to get you some new stuff, okay? Yeah, great. I know that what he just did is messed up, and there's a center for girls like you nearby. Can I come close to you? Yeah, okay. Can I touch you? Just your hand, promise. Yeah, you're going to be okay, I swear, it's okay..."

And Matt's stomach _plummets_ when the girl whimpers, "Thank you, Spider-man," and Peter's gentle voice says that it's no problem.

He's heard of Spider-man, of course.

They all have, especially after the whole Vulture incident.

Matt had been trying to track the weapons back to the dealer for _weeks_ , trying to get rid of them, when Spider-man had swooped in and saved the day.

Foggy, of course, was all over Spider-man, whilst Peter had been oddly subdued.

"What, no fanboying?" Matt had teased.

"He's not as cool as Daredevil." Had been Peter's answer, truthful but still hiding something.

And Matt had just dismissed it but now...

 _But now..._

"Spider-man." He waited until Peter had paid for the girl's clothes, had called the police and walked the girl home, gently holding her hand and promising he wouldn't touch her until he had been given permission.

Peter stared at him, and sighed, "You can hear my heartbeat."

"I can." The corners of Matt's lips quirked up in amusement at the utter resignation in Peter's voice. "This isn't your usual territory."

"I've been trying to avoid Hell's Kitchen because it's your place."

"You didn't want me to find out." _Christ_ , now Matt understands how Foggy felt when he found out. "But today, you decided to take that risk. Why?"

Peter's heart flutters, and he sounds honestly surprised as he asked, "Wait, didn't you already figure it out after the whole Vulture incident?"

Matt rubs his temples and sighs. "How exactly," He asks dryly, "Would I have found out?"

"With your superpowers." Peter answers in a slightly miffed voice. " _Obviously_."

Matt snickers at that. "You think very highly of me for someone who's so obviously a superhero."

Peter shrugs, and Matt knows that he must be making that face that Foggy describes as him scrunching his nose up as though he's trying to figure something out but doesn't really know yet _what_ he's trying to figure out. "I'm not much of a hero." He sighs, picking at his suit. "I'm just a kid from Queens, trying to do what's right."

"That sounds a lot like a hero to me." Matt points out, and Peter shrugs again.

"Before Toomes..." He shakes his head, and starts again. "Before the Vulture. I just wanted to be a hero. I really wanted to be a bigshot, like the Avengers or something." He sways on the balls of his feet and sighs. "But then they made the offer and..."

"You had an offer to join the Avengers and you turned them _down_?" Matt asks incredulously. "You, who's obsessed with them?"

Peter makes a face at him. "The Avengers, they do big stuff, yeah? They take down aliens and save the world. But I..." He took a deep breath, and sighed again. "I don't want that. I thought I did, but I don't. They just sit around, planning and stuff for when something big comes, but they never notice the little things." He probably has that shy little smile on his face as he admits, "That's why Daredevil was always my favorite. You looked out for the little guys."

Matt is seriously touched by this and all, but... "You turned down the Avengers, kid. We are going to have words."

Peter sighs. "Patrol first?"

He probably has those puppy dog eyes, the ones that, according to Foggy, "Anyone who perceives light can't be immune to."

Except he has a mask, so even if Matt could see, they probably wouldn't work.

But there's something in his voice, something that's sweet and childish and kind, so Matt sighs, "Fine."

Peter laughs, giddy and excited, and then Matt realizes.

" _Do you realize how many times you could have died!?"_

 **THE END**


End file.
